Links for 04/29/16 | National Catholic Reporter

Links for 04/29/16 | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Catholic and non-Catholic businesses treat ethics as aside issue, along with equal opportunity and tax compliance.  A real examination of ethics in business would get real Marxian, real fast, addressing both wages structures and the impact of trade.  Employers would find any graduate schooled in such subjects unhireable.



AfD is a fascist organization - which is why - although other Germans condemn it - no one is going out of their way to challenge them too much - or to say bad things about Trump.  Pity, because the only way fascism ever succeeds is when people try to talk around it rather than standing up to them.



In the world of real capitalism, anyone who invested solely in Puerto Rican bonds deserves the haircut that they are going to get, although anyone who is Puerto Rican who did invest poorly should be held almost harmless by the U.S. Treasury.  Until Puerto Rico stops paying bondholders, no bill will pass - and even then, it will be a less then optimal bill unless the President and the Senate Democrats play hard ball.

Dear Secretary Clinton: A Catholic appeal to the next president | National Catholic Reporter

Dear Secretary Clinton: A Catholic appeal to the next president | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Immigration reform should be a top priority, but it should be much different than the last Senate bill.  Take the punitive measures out. Many undocumented workers have been trafficked.  Even before a bill, start a national push to give them the appropriate visas, enlisting local law enforcement in finding where trafficked workers are and reaching them with the good news.



There are already two tax systems - and the one paid by small business uses the personal income tax rates, which could be lower or higher, depending on revenue size.  Tax reform should get rid of  the business income tax and replace it with a value added tax, both a Goods and Services Tax for domestic discretionary spending (civil and military) and a Subtraction VAT for social services (replacing payroll taxes, most personal and corporate income taxes) and enacting an income and inheritance surtax for those with higher incomes.  Part of this reform should include a huge increase in the child tax credit, which should be distributed, not as an end of the year windfall, but as a large increase in pay for families with children. Now that would be pro-life.



Also on abortion, Clinton should tell the truth - the the pro-life/pro-choice duopoly is playing politics with Supreme Court appointments at the same time that seven justices (including Kennedy, Alito and Roberts) consider Roe to be settled law.  Most appellate judges think the same way, as do most lawyers.  Those who say that Roe was wrongly decided are simply outside the mainstream.  Any solution to the abortion controversy will exclude first trimester embryos (they are not yet fetuses) and will look quite a bit like the status quo.  She should promise massive assistance to Down Syndrome children and their parents and the pro-life side should consider that a win, fold their tents and go home.  And they should forget about going after birth control.  Catholic teaching on this ignores the science of embryology and should be discussed no more.

Links for 04/28/16 | National Catholic Reporter

Links for 04/28/16 | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Boehner provides a unique insiders view of the candidates. If I were Cruz, I would not be happy. The most interesting part was the possibility that Biden may be used to break an unlikely Democratic deadlock. I am not sure how Biden v. Trump would be. There would certainly be plenty of gaffes (and I love the VP).



Cardinal Wuerl is dancing the fine line between defending the old order and supporting the new one, which is more of contextual than a formalistic view of morality. The moral order is a created concept - and how we know it is an individual enterprise, even inside Church teaching. That infallibility was not mentioned in the Exhortation is a good thing.



The selection of Fiorina shows how desperate he is to get the women's vote and how likely that may be with Trump alienating women right and left.

Trump's Foreign Policy Speech Channels Lindbergh, Wilkie and Nixon: Yikes! | National Catholic Reporter

Trump's Foreign Policy Speech Channels Lindbergh, Wilkie and Nixon: Yikes! | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: The Republican Party is in deep trouble.  Its candidate is a walking cult of personality and a proto-fascist who thinks that branding fixes all, that the Big Lie works.  Sadly, it does on occassion.  Luckily, Lincoln was correct, you can't fool all of the people all of the time.  I can visualize his budget now.  Revenue will be expanded to include "Tribute" from Europe.  Like that's going to fly.

Links for 04/27/16 | National Catholic Reporter

Links for 04/27/16 | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Many religious voters are authoritarians and a billionaire campaigner appeals to those instincts, provided he is standing in solidarity with them rather than treating them how he treats his workers - which is a huge danger in the unlikely event he wins.  As for gay wedding cakes, abortion Trap laws and contraception - these issues are or will be done by June with none of them likley to allow conserative religious voters to save face after their previous losses.



MSW's link to Mark Silk is bad.  Use this one. http://religionnews.com/2016/04/26/trump-reed-abortion-republican-platform/  I agree with Silk that it is refreshing that Trump is telling the truth on some of these social issues, particularly Trans bathroom use (which is already being litigated - NC will be quickly and quietly acknowleding that their is void). Authoritarians will give him a pass, which is most of his and Cruz's voter base.  In reality, Trump is socially liberal, but sees no problem in sealing the deal for President by stretching the truth.  Some people live by shame and brand, others by guilt and consciences.  Trump is the prior.  I suspect on Sanders is the latter in this race.



Shafer is more timely than MSW gives him credit for, as he has announced his VP pick, Carly Fiorina, just today.  Trump's most likely pick is Cruz (who should have picked Rubio or Kasich in exchange for one of their delegates), although if he needs a few hundred, Trump migh pick Rubio in exchange for enough delegates for a first ballot victory.  As for the Democratic side, Warren and especially Sanders have to be considered - the latter to make Sanders behave for the rest of the race (and be rewarded for doing so) and to make him more compliant on the platform.

The I-95, Northeast corridor primary: Trump and Clinton romp | National Catholic Reporter

The I-95, Northeast corridor primary: Trump and Clinton romp | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: On the Republican side, Kasich and Cruz need to both lose Indiana to solidify Trump's path to victory. Trump is only late in understanding that he must have delegates who are for him - they only have to obey the voters in the first and sometimes the second ballot - which is how Cruz or Romney can win. If Trump clenches a first ballot victory, its over - although Cruz has eaned the right to write the platform - so expect the usual right-wing socially conservative drivel.



On the Democratic side, Sanders essentially released a statement saying he knows he can't win, will play nice and looks forward to having a large role in writing the Democratic Party platform. This is good for both unity and because Hillary really has little to say on the issues beyond the fact that she is qualified and will protect women's rights. We will see if she remembers what I told her about the right to life movement being a scam.



Voter turnout in a primary race that is essentially over says nothing about the general election and more about down ballot races in the primary. Pennsylvania will be an easy win for Hillary, even with pro-life women going for Trump (and that might not even happen, since Trump used to be proudly pro-choice and Clinton's Super PAC has the tape of him saying so. What we consider lying he considers good marketing. The voters are smarter than that. He's going down.

Links for 04/26/16 | National Catholic Reporter

Links for 04/26/16 | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Victims are attracted to authoritarians to save them because they have lost touch with how to save themselves.  The Donald is just spoiled by being the kind of capitalist who expects obedience and thinks he is exercising leadership.  When he does not get it, he whines.



There is more than one kind of Methodist and I don't think Clinton and Warren are the same kind or are that driven by their religious convictions vs. their economic convictions - which are really different.  Buddy Hackett had an amazing piece about Methodists, but its not for a family newspaper.



We are now pretty much at the point where we need to convention plan in earnest.  Part of that plan is deciding just how much of the Platform Sanders gets to write and how much would be embarrassing if it were included.  Its going to take some negotiations and they have to be quick, since Sanders is going to continue his speaking tour through California (and the tour is not relevant if he is not an active candidate - Cali is where Socialist campaigns go to die, even in the Green Party).

The Donald & the Walmart Moms | National Catholic Reporter

The Donald & the Walmart Moms | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: I saw the Rhode Island speech while wating for an appointment yesterday. The Donald was his usual pathetic and fascist self.  The reason the WalMart mom's love him so is that he speaks as an authoritarian, which means they resume competence and authority.  He has neither.  He is the master of the Big Lie, a fascist tool.  Let us hope that Mr. Lincoln was right - you can't fool all of the people all of the time.

Links for 04/15/16 | National Catholic Reporter

Links for 04/15/16 | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: The meme about exiling Churchill's bust is so easily believed by the right wing because they prejudge  Obama - aka prejudice aka bigotry. How people feel about him on this meme is a good way to take their racist temperature.



Interesting stuff on Harriet Tubman.  Rachel Maddow has a piece on how the $20 bill had significance at many times in her life, including the fact that she requested and received an increase in her Civil War military pension from $13 to $20.



The opposition to bailing out Puerto Rico is both corrupt and racist, as we seem to be riffing on that theme today. I still think PR should take the bill by the horns and start defaulting on the vulture capitalists.

The limits of pacifism | National Catholic Reporter

The limits of pacifism | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: The ulitmate way to achieve passivism is world unity - starting with economic unity, moving to a common belief in human rights and lastly political unity.  Economic unity needs to happen on the company level, with employee and union owned multinational corporations and cooperatives giving equal ownership rights to employees on both sides of the border (say one new share each month) and payroll which provides an equal standard of living to all workers, no matter where they are.  Eventually, this will lead to economic parity and justice - which will help us avoid future wars - although gangs and nations of thugs will always require force to put them down, like any other rabid animal.

Links for 04/22/16 | National Catholic Reporter

Links for 04/22/16 | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: The "outsider" candidates remind me of people who want a constitutional convention for whatever reason.  They think that state legislators will heed their call, blissfully unaware that in most congressional districts, the member of Congress and the state senators and assembly members all serve on the same partisan committee.  The delegates serve their too.



The South Carolina falls on due process grounds, both by requiring registration for no compelling purpose (also, while feds can demand this, states cannot) and by making someone responsible for another's action.  People try to do that to parents and it is never allowed.  Corruption of blood goes both ways in the Federal Constitution.



Lets hope that the Cuban negotiations don't turn the Catholic Church into some kind of official church of Cuba (something Catholic prelates often desire, even now) rather than simply having the right to be left alone and to provide education and social services.  Viva!

Father Sirico Goes to Congress | National Catholic Reporter

Father Sirico Goes to Congress | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: That Fr. Sirico is invited to be an expert on anything shows that P.R. and funding is more important than truth.  As for Laudato Si', infallibility, even of the Magisterium, is not invoked because it does not exist and the Pope will not continue that little exercise in papal relativisim.  On the economic side, Sirico is wrong about knowledge and climate change - we can actually calculate the externalities that are left off the price.  We can then compute the amount of the carbon tax to add to prices, making prices an acurate measure once again.  This is what governments do.  Whether they should do so or go with a value added tax instead is a matter for tax experts like me, not Koch sponsored idiots like Sirico.

Links for 04/21/16 | National Catholic Reporter

Links for 04/21/16 | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Petri's analysis is spot on on Syria, however one must as the question of when it is mandatory to go to war to stop a genocide? Syria has already bombed itself back to the stone age - and boots on the groud will help - but must they be American?  What is needed is a boundary redrawing and the installation of King Abdullah of Lebanon into Damascus - however that will likely require a military solution and the withdrawl of Assad (and the destruction of Daesh/ISIL).  Even the peace negotiated by Wesley Clark for Yugoslavia requred American and Russian military power.



The Solidarity Festival is a good start and a good example of boots on the ground activism.  Of course, the ideal is worker ownership so that the abuses mentioned here do not occur at all.



When Vigano came to America, I was hoping he would very publicly go after the bishops who ignored the Dallas Accords and whose actions around denying politicians the Eucharist bordered on sedition (which could have led to demotion of the Nuncio to Apostalic Delegate).  The evidence is that some bishops were removed, but not quickly enough and it is rumored that Vigano was protecting rather than removing them.  At least the use of Communion as a political weapon has stopped.  This Pope won't let it ever be restarted.  As for attacks by the secularists against the Church, all Valarie Jarrett did was give the bishops an opportunity to make fools of themselves (and with the bishops,their Republican friends) - they are the ones who took the bait and ran with it.  At least the latest Supreme Court action will end that bit of unnecessary controversy once and for all.  The best thing for the next Nuncio to do is to get certain bishops out of bed with the Republican Party, if that is not too much to ask.

Review: Kaveny's Prophecy Without Contempt, Part II | National Catholic Reporter

Review: Kaveny's Prophecy Without Contempt, Part II | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: The connection of goodness to material wealth by the Puritans is the start of the prosperity gospel and its later day prophet, Donald Trump, whose denomination evolved from the Puritans.  My people became Quakers and set out for Providence, generations later becoming Disciples of Christ, where some of my cousins are still a strong pressence.  The Disciples are interesting, because their goal is to duplicate the theology and practice of the early Church (according to the Bible of course - they don't quite get to pre-biblical Christianity and its explicit communism).  We don't all like the Glorious Revolution, as some of us have Plantagenet and Tudor ancestry and could have been called upon rather than the Oranges.  On the Jeremiad, unless it is used as a tool to perfect religion, rather than just civil society, it rings hollow. Of course, the best use of it in American history has been the Abolitionist Movement (and civil rights), the worst the self-serving pro-life movement, to which the bishops seem to flock for their own purposes (although at least they don't become rich or gain political office fundraising for it)

Review: Kaveny's Prophecy Without Contempt | National Catholic Reporter

Review: Kaveny's Prophecy Without Contempt | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: The Spirit of Prophesy must be grounded in love or there is no point to it, whether it be love of country or love of your fellow religionists.  It is always based on present controversy, but is written in the future tense - both describing what will happen if it is not heeded and what life will be like once it is - in the Jewish tradition in "the day of the Lord."  Revelation was not about Rome, it was about the Gentile Church and was written by a Judaizer who seems to have come out on the wrong side.  Interestingly, we are waiting for his predictions to come true, though they have nothing to do with our time, or any other future period.



Any analysis of prophesy should be grounded in the ancient experience of it and move from there, including the time of the Apostles.   Some form of God should be intimately involved with it, however a large bit of it should discuss how the Church is performing.   It should, of course, take into account modern thought.  Not everyone has a problem linking the enlightenment with the Christian tradition.  Indeed, its easy.  The Thomistic and Aristotelian models of free will depend on the fact that in no place in the world is the attractive Good entirely revealed - which leaves each individual free to act.  The collection of those individuals must either resolve into the general will or the democratic will, with the general will being unanimous and the democratic will requiring force.



Having grounded in traditional moral philosophy and religion, we can move to the present day.  Whether harsh discourse is a good thing or not is a matter for prophesy to resolve.  Will it move us forward or will it lead us to death?  Are the harsh voices speaking in Christ or are they glorifying their own egos?  Do they speak truth or are they seeking favor, as the pro-life cause does?  What do they say about the Church?  If they love the Church, they must speak out when it commits error.  Most importantly, what do the modern prophets say about the poor?  Note that this is not the province of the educated - prophesy is gift, not something you get with a degree.  You know who has the gift by their fruits - by what they say.  If it is true, they are authentic.  If they lie, it will be clear.



The Internet has allowed many to be prophets, from established writers like MSW to freelancers like your not-so-humble servant. Some prophets run for President, like Bernie Sanders, while others, like Pope Francis, call us to holiness in a way no pope has done since St. John XXIII (holiness and loyalty to the Magisterium are two very different things, thus sayeth the Lord).  Those most holy put themselves on the line, like the Barrigan brothers and Archbishop Oscar Romero, who paid with his life for the gift or prophesy and received a martyr's crown

Links for 04/19/16 | National Catholic Reporter

Links for 04/19/16 | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Poverty statistics do not include income transfers.  The children are poor, but are likely not hungry.  Of course, to keep the children fed, individual economic activity stays under the table.  Switching from Food Stamps and TANF to an enhanced child tax credit will allow the underground economy to come out without anyone being in danger of losing benefits.  Of course, this may require ending the failed experiment of P.R. as a tax free zone, since federal taxes are better able to handle the tax load required.  Of course, the first thing they need to do is stop paying vulture capitalists, who will then demand the control board that is sorely needed.



Today is the day in New York.  Some private polls show Sanders is closer than the public polls show.  If the Sanders are smart, and they are, there have likely been a lot of independents reregistering as Democrats of late.  If that is the case, this will almost be like an open primary.  If we don't know who won in 12 hours, its a win for Sanders because he close.  In that case, California, here we come!



Pius VII is interesting (I had to look him up).  His relationship with the United States is probably a first as is his advocating republican government and democracy - although he did not advocate it enough to use it in the papal states.  He seemed to be able to adapt to the changing winds of politics with Napoleon, although some may criticize him for not earning a martyr's crown.  What is disappointing is that he did not stand strong against the forces of reaction in the Church in reference to the Inquisition and the Index.  Still, I wonder how he would deal with our evolving understanding of homosexuality and gay marriage. Would he affirm what most civilized governments are finding or stick to the old ways?  An interesting question.

What to make of the forced resignation of Tony Spence | National Catholic Reporter

What to make of the forced resignation of Tony Spence | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Like anybureaucracy, the bishops want the Church to present a united front against LGBT rights.  The problem for them is, the Church itself - the people of God - does not agree. It will only get worse for them as Catholic families seek the blessing of the gay marriages of their children, siblings and parents.  Priests will seek the married life, sometimes in pairs, with or without return to the laity (some will certainly bless such unions) while younger people avoid ordination at all and seek the married life.  Sadly, there are those who equate being gay with being a child abuser, which is not at all the case.  Openy gay priests are no threat to anyone.  It is estimated that half the priests are currently gay, so the bishops are particularly sensitive about this issue, but in a bad way.  What we are seeing is both fear and sour grapes. Neither is worthy from those who claim to speak for Christ.  Their consistent message of bigotry and stupidity is worse than failing to keep up a united front.

Links for 04/18/16 | National Catholic Reporter

Links for 04/18/16 | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: A 13.5% marginal tax rate is devastating if you are Trump or Romney.  If you make in the $200,000 a year range, it is about average.  Camosy is wrong on a big thing - socialists do not believe in private charity as a replacement for government action.  We believe in higher taxes for the upper middle class and the wealthy.  Sanders is considered upper middle and received a permanent tax cut thanks to Obama keeping the Bush rates for his income level. Interestingly, Bernie is also going with the meme that below $250,000 is somehow still the middle class.  I really is not, especially if you have to have two homes (the perks of office are mostly when you leave - and Sanders will most likely die before he becomes a lobbyist.



Like it or not, the superdelegates are a safety valve to prevent a non-party member or someone like Donald Trump from getting the nomination.  Of course, even though Sanders is a nominal socialist, he has been serving in the Democratic caucus in both houses of Congress for decades.  If Bernie wins or ties New York, much of the rest of the east and wins big in California, superdelegates will likely change sides, although they don't have to.  If Bernie loses NY, he will still have a California campaign swing that will be more speaking tour than request for votes.  He is in it for the message - which is why he went to Rome.



A four to four decision on the immigration case defaults to the appellate decision, which favored the government. Of course, if they rule on standing - which might not be 4-4, the ruling on executive power may be moot since there would not be a case. The Court does not give advisory opinions (although this one has been coming close of late).

Pope Francis champions refugees and migrants | National Catholic Reporter

Pope Francis champions refugees and migrants | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: To some extent, Francis standing up for refugees is not news.  Of course he is and he takes the Church with him.  Any priest who sees things differently needs to seek the non-clerical life and his bishop has a disciplinary issue (or is one himself).  Of course, the latest exhortation and visit shows that this Pope is putting less stock on authoritative degrees and more on helping people in need, including those of us who are divorcing.  As for Europe, this crisis is too big for any one member of the community and until the EU has a real president rather than a rotating presidency and real continental taxes and debt, I would not expect much from it. Neither does Francis, which is why he, the Greek Metropolitan and the Ecumenical Patriarch asked the world for help.  Of course, the world also lacks an effective presidency to deal with this issue - or the world-wide representative government to raise the funds necessary, or to simply intervene and stop the war.  That is the problem with the Pax Americana, it has the option of sitting out such crises.

Links for 04/15/16 | National Catholic Reporter

Links for 04/15/16 | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: What Sanders did not say, but everyone should know, is that it was his opponent's husband who deregulated the financial markets which lead to the crash of 2008.  Also, let there be no more talk of Sanders not making a moral case - his case is profoundly moral and he found a perfect venue to share it.  Distributists like to say that they are the economic theory resulting from Rerum Novarum.  That is not exactly true.  Democratic Socialism, where the State is a major player in the economy, especially regarding workers rights, is the product of our social thought.  If you want the candidate of Catholic Social Teaching, you have him right here.  He is in it for the cause, not simply for himself, which is why he went to Rome and why he should be President. He would also make a decent Secretary General of the United Nations. This speech shows that.



There is an obvious reason why MSW likes the CNS analysis on pro-life Democrats - the article is essentially a book report of his book!  I agree, it was feminists (especially feminist teachers union members) who drove the Democrats to the left on this issue, however with the death of Scalia and the unwillingness of Kennedy, Roberts and Alito to overturn Roe - as well as the impossibility of finding 34 states to ratify a Human Life Amendment (and the likelihood that Trap Laws will be overturned in June), it is still incumbent upon right to lifers - Republican, Democratic and journalistic to say HOW they want to protect the unborn.  Too many thinking Catholics, like myself and Chris Matthews, are ready with a list of embarrassing questions for any proposal made.  When you can answer them with more than papal authority or sentimentality, we might take Democrats for Life seriously.



Pope Francis gave the homily that any priest should have given today (although I remember serving some priests who would forgo a Homily at daily Mass.  Pity). This passage sets the ground for all of the upcoming Holy Spirit passages from St. John's Gospel rendition of the Last Discourse.  The fact that this homily has some relevance to the issues of the day is purely coincidental (like the fact that Robert Frost said his poetry had no hidden meaning).

The Final Democratic Debate | National Catholic Reporter

The Final Democratic Debate | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: I did not watch the debate.  The general election debates are usually better viewing.  I am glad that Bernie, though a Jew, spoke out in favor of the humanity of the residents of the Gaza strip.  While I am sure that some displaced settlers want their old land back, it was not really theirs in the first place.  The solution here is ceding it to Egypt and being done with it (which the settler familier will hate - all the more reason to do it now).



Bernie is going good on his theme, although, unless it was never reported, I wish he had said more about his tax plan vs. Mrs. Clilnton's proposals.  On the topic of Wall Street, he should have said that she raised tons of money for her husband's campaigns and it bought them unregulated hedge funds (why Greece and Puerto Rico are in trouble) and the repeal of Glass-Stiegal, as well as cuts to capital gains taxes which made buying mortgage backed securities a good idea at the time.  She can claim these were her husband's decisions, not hers, but he could have fired back with the question of what she would have done differently.



Is New York a done deal?  Polls said Hillary would win Iowa by large margins.  It was a tie.  We could be seeing the Douglas Wilder effect, where people feel funny saying they won't vote for a woman, but really do not.  This could be closer than we think on Friday and even closer after people realize there is an election Tuesday and start watching the ads. Anything but a big Clinton win keeps Sanders in the race through California (he may stay in regardless) - but if he won, that would be a reason for Super-Delegates to change their minds - and that will change everything.



Its a pity we are not more ideological.  If the race were framed as a neo-liberal vs. a democratic socialist, where neo-liberals include Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and probably both Bushes then calls for a change election would be obvious for more voters giving Hillary their vote now who might vote differently when radicalized.



Should Bernie start playing nice?  In California, yes, but not now.  Hillary should wait until then to so as not to sound condescending - and be very willing to be gracious when it is time to write the Party platform.  The only thing the platform should say about abortion is that the issue is a fraud and the Party, while condemning Trap laws (which might be struck down by June anyway), will no longer engage on the issue unless the Republicans actually make proposals on what they would do, since Roe v. Wade appears to be the most settled of precedents

Links for 04/14/16 | National Catholic Reporter

Links for 04/14/16 | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Fr. Z's comments say as much about his audience as it does about him.  That is tragic in a priest, as is his disobedience (or the possible disobedience of his bishop for not discipliing him or possibly agreeing with him).  Calling the Exhortation Divorced Families would have brought more special attention to the problems of the divorced that are only made worse by bad Catholic proof texting.



Eugene Volokh is recording a win for his side, which I am willing to grant him if it will just shut him up.  The reality is that all insurance plans, save self-insurance, have been required to provide contraception since December 2000.  The religious freedom in contraception still remains with the insured women and girls.  I suspect that the Catholic Church's goal was really to partially repeal Griswold v. Connecticut in a death by a thousand cuts.  They did not even come close to doing so, which they tried to do with religiously biased employers and failed.  They also failed to be kept separate from the process of governmentally managed coverage.  Indeed, they could not have avoided it anyway.  Mark Silk makes clear that their demand to do so was not met.



The RNS shows how much Christians don't like userous loans.  The problem is that the loan makers give lots of money to legislatures, which is a lesson for the attempt to help Puerto Rico. Social Services will be reformed, but that will also mean improvement and more federal money.  Of course, the best way to get rid of both payday lenders and vulture capitalists is to default and quit doing business with them.

Puerto Rico Day at the Congress | National Catholic Reporter

Puerto Rico Day at the Congress | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Honoring the 65th is a nice touch when preparing a bail-out for Puerto Rico, especially one with blow-back from the Island's creditors. A control board is absolutely necessary because it will consider all of the problems that Puerto Rico faces, although some problems will be allowed to continue if there is no constituency for a solution (like rent control in the District).



Sadly, the partisan composition of the Control Board in the Ryan Bill won't make it easier to pass.  Traditionally, boards are appointed by the President.  Altering that is a gratuitous insult to the President - one that makes no sense unless you think Donald Trump is going to win the White House. Indeed, a congressionally controlled board will result in partisan upheavel as the Senate changes hands in the fall - with the House possibly going the same way.



The safe play is to have the President formally appoint members chosen by the delegate to Congress from Puerto Rico.  There will likely be someone in the administration in charge of the government's response, with that person working with the Board and both working for the Delegate and the elected government.  Everyone will be in the loop, which is more complicated when you put congressional appointees on the board who may be more partisan than necessary. Those complications should be avoided with a clean bill with a presidentially appointed board

Links for 04/13/16 | National Catholic Reporter

Links for 04/13/16 | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: It is regrettable that Kate Andersen Brower failed to mention Dr. Jane Sanders, who is both a college President and a key advisor to her husband.  She is perhaps the most interesting of the bunch, including Bill Clinton, whom we have heard quite enough from.



Mark Silk is correct,"direct" religious employees should also get the same kind of coverage that non-profit Catholic agecies get - indeed, I suspect they do get it through EEOC rules anyway.  This has never been a question of religious liberty.  It is a question of religious power, but no one used those words, mostly because the Court desired compromise, in this case 8-0.  This issue is dead, but there will always be another where the terms moral scorn and religious power can be used to describe what the Bishops are insisting upon.  Neither implies religious freedom.



This is another case where Francis the pastor uses the reading of the day for good use on the topic of the day, which is his Apostolic Exhortation on Love and Mercy.  The visit to Lesbos was an add-on, but an essential one.  Whether this issue, which has everything to do with the war in Syria and poverty in North Africa, migrates to the U.S. is questionable.  I doubt the GOP members of the USCCB will mention it voluntarily in reference to the election.  These events actually have more to do with the Hatian, Vietnamese and Cuban waterborn escapes than trips to the U.S. where people overstay their visa.  In Greece, Francis identifies with both the refugees and the Greeks who are helping them.  On the Mexican border, Francis identfies with the migrant.  The U.S. has been almost entirely unwelcoming, so he has no one to sit in solidarity with here. Trump is just a caricature of current American policy.

'Jackie Robinson': Race, Then & Now | National Catholic Reporter

'Jackie Robinson': Race, Then & Now | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Black lives matter is important not in relation to all lives (that is obvious - indeed, it makes the difficult claim that black lives matter as much as white lives - whihc is understoon) but to police power and to private property.  Black lives matter more than property, more than police power and as much as white lives.  Ethics 102.



The interesting thing about Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier is that doing so crashed the Negro Leagues, which if the truth be told were better than the Major Leagues.  Satchel Page was probably the best base ball player ever, even though he did not play in the majors. His career matters more than most white baseball careers, though it was doomed when Robinson crossed the color line.  Indeed, the team name of the Kansas City Royals is an omage to the Monarchs, who Page pitched for.  One could argue that the reason the color line was allowed to be breached was because everyone in the major knew who played better baseball, and inclusion removed the better league.  It would have been interesting if the Negro Leagues had held fast and started to attract the best white players instead.

Links for 04/12/16 | National Catholic Reporter

Links for 04/12/16 | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: The sad reality is that, before the Affordable Care Act, religious non-profits have had policies covering contraception if they offered third party insurance, as per a ruling of the EEOC in December 2000, which the Bush Administration never sought to change.  There really is no issue here.  August Fagothy would have said that withholding tax funds if this had been a publicly funded abortion mandate was not allowed (so much for the Hyde Amendment), so this simple acknowledgement is hardly even a formality, its a form.  The federal solution is adequate.  The religious organizations should simply say that, as they cannot cooperate with filling out paperwork, it also cannot specify how to avoid filling out the paperwork.  This is mostly because the bishops are breathing down their necks.  On their own, most would simply fill out the form or realize even that is not required for contraceptive coverage to be granted under law.



One need not be a racist to cite employability problems of some black youth.  Its hardly universal, however, as I have worked with black youth who went on to be managers.  The answer, by the way, is to pay the youth who are under-prepared to finish their educations.  The parents too.  Trump, by the way, was incoherent as usual.



This performance was not for the Nuncio.  It was for the victims of the Paris attacks.  Leave it as that please.  If an American organist at the National Bassilica wishes to feat him with this piece, that would be nice.

The Hardened Hearts of the Catholic Right | National Catholic Reporter

The Hardened Hearts of the Catholic Right | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: What is the old saying?  Wisdom from the mouths of babes and fools? The fools have spoken.  I have to agree with them.  Francis did not stress the magisterial weight or orthodoxy of his Exhortation because striving both is itself a fool's errand.  By ignoring doctrinal change he recast the papacy in the humility it has sorely needed since the inane rantings of Piux IX.  He put care of the sinner above everything else.  I would have gone further and spoken out against the concept of sinfullness when dealing with problems of marriage or the happy trend toward gay marriage and away from the promiscuity of the bathhouse.  That the Church seems to be hailing his approach shows that, while the fools may have teased out some of the trees, they again miss the forest.



Private to George Weigel and Cardinal Burke, et al.  Yes, I called you fools.

Links for 04/11/16 | National Catholic Reporter

Links for 04/11/16 | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: The belief in the death of God is very Hegelian - a natural outcome of religious freedom and the loss of religious authority and power as the main driver of western culture.  As to the practical atheists, some pews are still full of those who believe in the belief in God, rather than believing in God directly.  Of course, many don't believe in that need to conform, unless they are raising small children, so they simply stay home on Sunday morning.  God the Ogre is still alive and well in conservative Catholicism, although I am not sure that the adherents to such a view really believe in God.  While there are Christian Humanists who do not believe, most Christian Humanists do.  Of course, this requires dropping the belief in a bloody sacrifice to bribe God, replacing it with a vision quest of God seeking to find us, so that we may find him.  The fact of the matter is that most penitential regimes are designed to provoke that desperation through which God speaks.  Those of us who became desperate through different means do not need such self-abuse.



Kansas is one of those places where you cannot claim to believe that God is dead.  Religious authoritarianism, which is part of just plain conservative authoritarianism, is still in vogue - giving you idiots who are out Trumping Trump

Sen. Sanders Goes to the Vatican | National Catholic Reporter

Sen. Sanders Goes to the Vatican | National Catholic Reporter MSW. MGB: The campaign and the movement are all about Democratic Socialism, which includes both state sponsored income supports as a moral obligation, private enterprise and essentially everything that has been covered by Catholic Social Teaching from Rerum Novarum to Caritas in Veritate.



People do mouth commitment to the unborn in most Democratic Socialist countries and have policies to back it up - but we are not like them - we prize individual rights as the moral basis for the republic - a big part of which is leaving women alone in reproductive decisions.  In the U.S., what is acceptable in many democratic socialisms is not acceptable here.  Any committment to life must take the constitutional limitations to heart - and must be specific.  A non-specific commitment to "Life" is simply a snow job. Any modern country with teeth on abortion also has Democratic Socialism.  To not do so is exploitative of women and simply gross. Given that, the best basis for doing anything about abortion is more robust Democratic Socialism.  If you want Life, feel the Bern.



As I said last week when this was announced, going to Rome is not some campaign stunt - but it is essential to the larger movement - even if it does not help win in New York. Why invite Bernie?  He is the foremost proponent of Democratic Socialism is the United States (with the possible exception of Richard Wolff, who is more of a Marxist, or cooperative socialists like me - and others - who are less well known).  He is a natural invite - candidate or not.  If you don't understand that, you don't understand Bernie or what fuels the campaign

'Amoris Laetitia': Francis challenges the church | National Catholic Reporter

'Amoris Laetitia': Francis challenges the church | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: There is an interesting parallel between how Francis treats the rules and Jesus treats the Law, which will last until the fulfillment.  Of course, how we in the Church deal with the rules is as much a study in sociological truth as it is in doctrinal truth - and believe me, sociology is as much a moral as science as theology - especially on questions of divorce and sexuality.  Indeed, it may find better answers.  Francis is trying to make sure the Church's answers are as good, but without changing the rules (which is good for peace in the hierarchy, but not enough for the Church as the people of God - who follow their own rules anyway - sociology wins again).



Bravo to Francis for endorsing the equality of women in the workplace, the family and the world.  If only he could come around to doing so in the clergy.  The sociology on this contradiction will result in many journal articles for those who care enough to write them.



The meditation on the Trinity ignores the fact that marriage was a latter day Sacrament in the Church. This of course calls forth the very human truth that assumes that the dogma believed by their parents or progenitors has always existed.  Its a a childish notion and the reason why more radical change is not happening today. While everything does flow from the salvic act of the Incarnation, Mission, Suffering, Death and Resurrection of Jesus, we should quit making up stories about the history of marriage that are not true and find some truths we had missed.



Gay marriage is a good example - the Bible asserts that when a couple gets married, they leave their families of origin behind and form a new bond.  This applies as much to gay marriage as more traditional forms, even with Jesus quoting the words on maleness and femaleness attributed to God in Genesis (which were probably written during the Babylonian exile - and with the same authority as most papal, or even episcopal, letters).We need to use scripture, not fetishize it.



All this being said, I wonder what the back channel communications are on this Exhortation.  Is this a hint that the rules are the rules, but when dealing pastorally they are a suggestion when dealing with the pastoral problems of broken families and spouses?  If so, this is a truly radical piece that affirms the rules while making them expendible. Jesus would like that.  I wonder how many priests will take the same tack when being asked to bless gay unions?  This could eventually be big news indeed and it certainly does not stop progress, as we modernists would call it.  It winks at it.

Links for 04/08/16 | National Catholic Reporter

Links for 04/08/16 | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Ed Morrissey's plan, which neo-conservatice Berkowitz propounds, may be good for finding a candidate for the next election cylcle, but not for this one.  Of course, the GOP may no longer exist in four years.  The conservative party in America has died several times before and the current incarnation is so locked in anti-Obama racism that it needs some time to deprogram itself.



Let me address Meghan Clark's points in order. 1. Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel actually are myth, not history, and as long Catholic doctrine treats them as fact rather than story, it will come up with the wrong answer.2. 1 Cor 13, probably all of the Catholic marriages ending in divorce used that passage - and in my case the person who left the marriage was the one who insisted on it.  We need to spend more time on what love is and is not and how to chose to keep it - for it is a choice.  3. Divorced couples often are quite involved with their families of origin - as they provide shelter when the marriage fails.  Of course, it is undertstood that you leave your in-laws behind, which is hardly transformed.  Accepting the reality of divorce and remarriage would actually make it easier to keep contact with some of my in-laws, who were good frieds.  4. Francis makes progress with his work on discernment - but he just can't go beyond the applying of the rules to letting couples decide what the rules are for themselves.  The joke is, they do it anyway.  Of course, the rules do need to be changed - there are good guys and bad guys in divorce whose right to remarry or forgive should be treated differently, as does the very nature of understanding the limits of Church authority in the real world.  5.  Mercy must include the concept that the rules must be merciful.  If they are not, then the rules are wrong.  Sadly, that conclusion was not made.



Bernie Sanders should absolutely go Rome (hopefully on a charter so he can sleep during the flights).  While he is in it to win it - he wants to win it for the cause, not for himself (unlike at least three of his opponents).  This kind of conference is all about the cause.  You don't pass up this kind of opportunity - or the opportunity to finally have a major presidential candidate speak the Catholic truth about economics.  I know the right to lifer's will have a fit - but they have always been a confidence game with no chance of winning anything but elections.  That this will play well with Catholic liberals in New York is only a bonus.

Link for 04/07/16 | National Catholic Reporter

Link for 04/07/16 | National Catholic Reporter Watch the video.  Short but sweet.

Rebutting the prebuttals of 'Amoris Laetitia' | National Catholic Reporter

Rebutting the prebuttals of 'Amoris Laetitia' | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: en curtain raisers.  I will repeat them here.



Weigel and the Council of Trent totally misunderstand worthiness to receive Communion, as Garry Wills pointed out in his book Why Priests? It is not a matter of inflexible doctrine as it is about flexible history (which Pius tried to settle in his condemnation of Modernism - Modernism won). Even granting the current thinking on what receiving in a state of sin, the Pope can still declare whether some actions are gravely sinful or not. For instance, scripturally, masturbation is probably equivalent to nocturnal emissions. In Torah, the penalty for that is staying away from people until the pool warms up enough to take a cleansing bath. Hardly damnation there. The same level of sin exists in gay marriage (or not at all) and finding love a second time (not sinful). Of course, when the divorce is for cause, like violence or alcoholism, I would give the aggrieved party full freedom and the offending party no freedom unless the aggrieved spouse grants it. This puts the power in the couple, not in the clergy. Sadly, the clergy are not mature enough to handle that.



John Allen hits the nail on the head in Crux. This exhortation is likely to affirm what is already the case among many Catholics, even when divorce is not the issue. There are a variety of former "mortal sins" that many Catholics are not bothered about - chief among them contraception - as well as missing Mass. They are things that don't get confessed because no one wants to go to confession and argue that they don't believe they have sinned seriously. Reforming reception of Communion rules will simply codify that. This will be a mercy in the pews, with the acknowledged noise in the left and right blogospheres.



I will add Faggioli's piece as well from yesterday.  On Faggioli's piece, I suspect he has caught the moods of both the conservatives and those who are open to change. I am interested in what he says (since I am in the middle of a divorce - and maybe an annulment - but as interested in how he says it. Is he going to proclaim truths or is he going to give administrative direction (changes to praxis) with some linkage to dogma, but not much of one? How is he going to handle the infallibilty of the Magisterium? Again, will he be proclaiming Truth or will he simply be giving instruction? My bet is that he will act with humility - and that will bother the conservatives to no end. I bet they would rather have an infallible answer that they disagree with than an answer which gives no consideration to infallibility at all. The best way to kill the pernicious trend to self-absorbed absolutism to simply stop mentioning it.

Links for 04/06/16 | National Catholic Reporter

Links for 04/06/16 | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: On Faggioli's piece, I suspect he has caught the moods of both the conservatives and those who are open to change.  I am interested in what he says (since I am in the middle of a divorce - and maybe an annulment - but as interested in how he says it.  Is he going to proclaim truths or is he going to give administrative direction (changes to praxis) with some linkage to dogma, but not much of one?  How is he going to handle the infallibilty of the Magisterium?  Again, will he be proclaiming Truth or will he simply be giving instruction?  My bet is that he will act with humility - and that will bother the conservatives to no end.  I bet they would rather have an infallible answer that they disagree with than an answer which gives no consideration to infallibility at all.  The best way to kill the pernicious trend to self-absorbed absolutism to simply stop mentioning it.



MSW leaves no doubt that he does not feel the Bern.  I am certainly tired of Clinton - both this one and the last one.  They are charismatic and they had their day in restoring glory to the Democrats, but given how stratified the society is, a fourth neo-liberal president is probably two too many.  I had higher hopes for Obama, who staffed his Administration with too many of Clinton's Wall Street types.  I don't want to give that crowd of financial consumerist free-traders another four years to torture the poor.



The annual bracketology of Church architecture is out.  The link is provided, if that is your thing.  I try to keep in mind how such Churches are funded, which gives me some pause.  Of course, those who let you buy a brick, like the National Basilica of the Immaculate Conception (the official name is unweildly), although the Fire Island Jesus (very buff) behind the back altar is a bit much. Of course, the 50s were a time when the U.S. was democratically socialist and did not know it.

On (And Over) Wisconsin | National Catholic Reporter

On (And Over) Wisconsin | National Catholic Reporter MSW. MGB: If Clinton had won, Sanders would have been done.  She did not close the deal.  He merely stays alive to fight another day.  Now, if she loses New York, ties it or even wins by a small margin, there will be significant doubts on her ability to close the deal and Sanders can continue.  If she wins big, its over.  Sanders may go on a speaking tour of California, but the path to the nomination is closed.  As for the General - any Democrat starts with 245 electoral votes in the bank, compared to the GOP sure bets of 145.  Do the math.  Winning Pennsylvania means its over on election night - and that will be called before 9 pm.  The Democrats need to decide whether they want a democratic socialist, aka an FDR liberal (even with the non-sensicle red baiting - which did not work when Clinton's people were doing it) or whether they want a Clinton/GWB/Obama neo-conservative.  Their decision will go for the nation.  Are there enough people happy enough to stay the course?  if so, Hillary wins.  If not, Sanders should win - and I don't see Sanders voters crossing to Trump, but I do see Trump voters giving Sanders a try.



If Trump had won, Cruz would have been done.  He did not close the deal, either.  Of course, if Kasich suspends his campaign, and this is where he should, than this was a big win for Cruz.  It would be even bigger if he were endorsed by Kasich and Rubio, who would then instruct their delegates to vote for him on the first ballot, as well as Romney (a lot of Trump delegates are really Rombots) and Paul, who would instruct their delegates to vote for him on the second and third ballot.  That kind of keeps Ryan out of it and allows Cruz the possibility of winning fair and square.  Anything less and Trump is the nominee or they go to a brokered nominee that cannot win.

Indiana's New Abortion Law | National Catholic Reporter

Indiana's New Abortion Law | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: The Indiana law is impermissible because a state government cannot make a fetus an object of law. That is solely federal.  Such state laws are designed to bring this matter to the attention of the SCOTUS - with the intent of overturning Roe entirely.  They think that Justice Kennedy, with Alito and Roberts joining Thomas, might be friendly to the fact that aborting Downs children is a form of discrimination. It might well be, but it does not give Indiana the power to make those calls. Remember that Kennedy voted against state partial birth abortion bans, even though he thought them infanticide, because of jurisdictional grounds. This law is toast, although it might lead to federal proposals. Whether these pass or not depend on how risk averse the pro-life movement is.  A federal law might be so encompassing as to end the issue - and make further fundraising on the issue impossible.  I doubt that the movement will burn its money tree.



As for punishing women - murder is murder and equal means what it says - which is why there will never be a first trimester abortion ban.  Making an abortable embryo the object of law makes a miscarried one the same thing - and we don't need the police power treating every miscarriage as a homicide.  The pro-life community needs to not only get over lying - it needs to get over sentimentality - at least until it provides respite care to parents of Downs children - as MSW suggests (which the Church should also do before it pokes its Crozier into the situation).

Links for 04/05/16 | National Catholic Reporter

Links for 04/05/16 | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Manners have been missing for a long time on the GOP side, starting in 2008, when some were gunning for Clinton and got Obama and really flew the coop.  Of course, one can argue that 1992 and the election of Bill Clinton set the wheels in motion for really bad manners.  People usually behave badly when they feel they have been slighted.  Electing a philaderer President was such a slight.  Electing a black President another.  Trump's crowd has been chomping at the bit to severly disrespect the POTUS and Trump is letting them vent.  Of course, Obama's roots go back to Plymouth and Jamestown (as do I).  Most of those who hate him have not been in America so long.



I worked for Marion Barry during the control period.  We did good work and the Board worked with us behind the scenes.  The biggest person in the loop was our unelected Delegate to Congress.  I suspect that the Puerto Rican control law will have significant input from their non-voting Delegate - and he will have lots of input in how the new board runs things.  Of course, to get a board, often things must be worse before they can enact.  A major default is still in order.



Weigel and the Council of Trent totally misunderstand worthiness to receive Communion, as Garry Wills pointed out in his book Why Priests?  It is not a matter of inflexible doctrine as it is about flexible history (which Pius tried to settle in his condemnation of Modernism - Modernism won).  Even granting the current thinking on what receiving in a state of sin, the Pope can still declare whether some actions are gravely sinful or not.  For instance, scripturally, masturbation is probably equivalent to nocturnal emissions.  In Torah, the penalty for that is staying away from people until the pool warms up enough to take a cleansing bath.  Hardly damnation there.  The same level of sin exists in gay marriage (or not at all) and finding love a second time (not sinful).  Of course, when the divorce is for cause, like violence or alcoholism, I would give the aggrieved party full freedom and the offending party no freedom unless the aggrieved spouse grants it.  This puts the power in the couple, not in the clergy.  Sadly, the clergy are not mature enough to handle that.

Links for 04/04/16 | National Catholic Reporter

Links for 04/04/16 | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: John Allen hits the nail on the head in Crux.  This exhortation is likely to affirm what is already the case among many Catholics, even when divorce is not the issue.  There are a variety of former "mortal sins" that many Catholics are not bothered about - chief among them contraception - as well as missing Mass.  They are things that don't get confessed because no one wants to go to confession and argue that they don't believe they have sinned seriously.  Reforming reception of Communion rules will simply codify that. This will be a mercy in the pews, with the acknowledged noise in the left and right blogospheres.



The prevelance of "Nones" is related to age, especially for Democrats where the young are no longer forced to go to Church.  It is surprising that more Catholics are not favoring Sanders, although I suspect Catholic women are striking a blow for gender - and this adds another argument for women priests.  As for Trump, Pew does not model authoritarianism.  Other surveys and commentators have noted that authoritarianism is the difference is supporting Trump.



Gans is right and Berkowitz is wrong.  The old Zionism, which looks good, is in practice relient on the kind of group exclusion most accurately equated with Jim Crow.The democratic mantras may be in place, but they are largely ignored.  Two things could happen.  Either Israel can get rid of Zionism or make it egalitarian and create a secular Israeli state or it can yield to a muscular two-state solution which gives parts of the Arab dominated North to the Arab state - which should ideally be as protective of minority rights as Jewish Israel.  Of course, the best of all solutions is an international government where such issues don't matter anymore.  Until we get to a state of no more deportations or blowing up of homes, Israel probably is not worthy of participation is such a world state.  Of course, this will all blow up when the Romany start asserting their right to return as heirs to the northern kingdom of Israel.  Hopefully we will behave with more humanity than our brothers from the tribe of Judah.

March Madness | National Catholic Reporter

March Madness | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: I am from Iowa, so this year I had a lot to watch (I did not do brackets, but they would have been busted with Michigan State's loss).  The UNI squad was particularly entertaining to watch, but the defeat was heart wrenching and shows the impact of your chief inbounder getting injured.  Oddly, I did not watch Semis, needing to get out of the house and see some of the movies last week's games had me miss (Batman v. Superman is definitely worth it, especially at senior citizen prices).



Competition, whether healthy or not, is a fact of life - which is why no one watches the women's show - first it was Tennessee dominating, now its UConn.  Whatever gives the men parity is not there for the women - of course there are also no seven footers.  In economics, rather than Hoops, there is no good real referee, given that the government in almost all economies is easily bought.  With a good referee, competition is healthy.



In business, competition between product lines gives us improvement - at least as much as the capitalists are ready for (there are rumors of automobiles where mileage could be a lot better save for tacit agreement with oil companies and car companies to keep innovation an agreed upon factor. I was for UNI, so I am for the underdog - which means the workers v. the capitalists.  I want the workers to win and win big so that there are cooperatives and no capitalists at all.



As for the tourney, I have not seen Villanova play, although I know they whooped University of Iowa.  I have seen North Carolina and I don't see how they can be stoped (I may like the underdog and am crazy, but I'm not stupid).

Links for 04/01/16 | National Catholic Reporter

Links for 04/01/16 | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: There is always the question of which Ratzinger one is reading or listening to, the theologian or the defender of the Magisterium and its power (which is actually relativism, Catholic style). Oddly, LuBac was one of those theologians whose books were banned, either before or during the time that Ratzinger read him.



The labor force participation part is interesting. That counts out people like me, who have disability and are not seeking work because the disability payment is at the top of the scale. As long as I can pay rent and order Chinese, I have enough money. We are too enamoured with work. I like retirement, thank you very much.



Silk hits the nail on the head.  Of course, he spares people lilke Catholics for Life for whom the term Life is even more a bumper sticker.  Until the movement gets really detailed on what it would do (and with the death of Scalia, overturning Roe and letting the states decide is off the table - not even Thomas believes that), the movement is a sham designed to make money for its organizers.  NARAL thanks them for their jobs too.  Its why they like the myth of the 4-4 Court, even though on abortion its 7-1.

Time for the Pro-Life Movement to Be Very Smart | National Catholic Reporter

Time for the Pro-Life Movement to Be Very Smart | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: The only problem Trump had in the Matthews interview was that he told the truth.  Equal protection under the law demands that if you consider a fetus a human being when banning abortion that the statutes on murdering a human being would apply.  Contracting to kill your child is generally punished if the child is considered a legal person and not chattel. That the pro-life movement soft pedals that (although in private many pro-lifers actually want such penalties) shows the extent that the movement is about electoral poltics, not banning abortion through personhood (under Roe there is no other way and Roe is going no where).



As for Trump, when interviewed previously, he said he was 100% pro-choice.  The tape is out there and it will be used.  This is more proof that being "pro-life" is being for baseball. Its something one must agree to, even if one really is not when running as a Republican.  Trump got caught because he did not know the lingo  He was actually trying to think on his feet, which is always tragic for a novice politician - especially when your interviewer is a pro-choice Catholic (whose wife is running as such for Congress) who has spent time shooting holes in the pro-life screed.



The pro-life movement is not a pro-woman movement under any view of that.  It is ultimately about controlling female sexuality - prohibiting it outside of monogamous heterosexual marriage (as well as male sexuality, but not to the same extent - although they hate non-celibate gays).  Why do I know this is true.  Two reasons - first, when you suggest to them that the solution to abortion is paying a child tax credit large enough so that no one would not want their child, they counter that you are paying people not to sin - and to have sex - to which the correct response is that is exactly what social justice demands for every family, even if abortion is not an option.  The second is that the movement is not demanding women priests and bishops.  If the pro-life movement were at all feminist, that would be at the top of the list.



Attempts by Democrats who feel guilty on abortion politics to add the economics are good, but they often turn the cause of life into a bumper sticker - they must also come clean about whether an abortion ban is being sought through the criminal law - and that women who procure abortions would be considered murders (and even if they were not, they would be driven to the ugly days of self-induced and back alley abortions if the doctors were penalized - this time as murderers - you cannot go back to the days when abortion was a fining offense that led to the loss of a medical license.  Not possible if the fetus (or first trimester embryo) is a legal person - Roe does not allow it and Roe is going nowhere.  There are seven justices who say so and the eigth is the second oldest.  Additionally, I have heard no sufficient answer to the fact that if first trimester abortions arae banned due to personhood, that a miscarriage does not become a public event demanding an inquest, if not a full investigation by the police.



The problem with Trump is that he thought things through on criminalization.  The only way for the pro-life movement to be purified is to admit that first trimester bans are off the table forever and that Roe will never be overturned in our lifetime.  While Congress could negotiate a legislative accord on abortion, it would not likely include first trimester embryoes for reasons given, so it would essentially do something for Downs babies and probably specifiy that after 20 weeks, all abortions must be by induction - and would have to give away the store on the child tax credit and aid to Downs families - especially including respite care for parents.



States will never be a laboratory for banning abortion (the Scalia approach) and providing the SCOTUS with another test case.  Messrs. Roberts and Alito vote too often with Mr. Justice Kennedy on baning abortion.  Its time for both the pro-life and pro-choice movements to admit that George W. Bush put an abortion ban out of reach forever. That myth was only good for electoral politics.  Of course, a legislative accord on this would end abortions, but it would also effectively end abortion as a political issue and cause advocates on both sides to lose their jobs. LIke poverty, abortion has always been and will always be with us, unless we wish a sexual police state.  Most people draw that line at that and it is time to realize it.



Trump was speaking the truth all  along.  By the way, aside from one true-believing staffer who sees conspiracies everywhere, most pro-choicers thought the Dorritos add was very funny. It was actually the highest rated ad in the Big Game.  (note that the NFL has more influence on the trademaried use of the term for its championship than either the pro-life or pro-choice movements)